Fixed wireless systems involve systems that are capable of enabling wireless communication, but are situated in fixed locations. Unlike mobile devices such as portable telephones and personal digital assistants, fixed wireless devices can be much larger in size, less mobile, and can include devices such as desktop personal computers.
Although having an enormous amount of potential, fixed wireless communication has traditionally lagged wired systems in both usefulness and popularity. A primary contributing factor for this phenomenon has been the fact that data transmission in wired systems has far exceeded data transmission in wireless systems. In the past, data transmission rates for fixed wireless systems have lagged Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) transmission rates or even dial-up transmission rates across conventional telephone lines.
However, the obstacles to using fixed wireless systems are rapidly being overcome. With the advent of Third Generation Wireless (3G) technologies, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)/Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) technologies in Europe, and Evolution Data Only (1×EVDO) technologies in North America, fixed wireless has become a viable option for wireless broadband access in the home as part of the overall operator's 3G portfolio. Already, fixed wireless systems are capable of downlink throughput access rates in the hundreds of kilobits per second, and megabit rates will be widely available in the near future. As a result of these advances fixed wireless access through UMTS, High Speed Packet Data Access (HSDPA) or 1×EVDO is rapidly becoming a superior choice to ISDN or dial-up systems. In fact, some or all of these systems will equal or surpass the transmission rates of digital subscriber line (DSL) systems in the not-too-distant future.
As fixed wireless systems continue to increase in quality and performance, improved “gateway” products become increasingly important. Wireless gateway products are needed to permit fixed wireless devices such as personal computers, peripheral devices and other devices within a local area network (LAN) to access and communicate with larger, wide area networks (WANs). As transmission rates continue to increase, wireless gateway devices must be able to manage more and more wireless-capable devices while maintaining high transmission rates among the devices and the larger networks.